Light & Wonder Pays $127.5 Million to Settle Aristocrat Copyright Claims — Update

By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--U.S. slots-machine maker Light & Wonder will pay $127.5 million to Aristocrat Leisure after it said it used the Australian company's coding and copyrights in two of its games.

Dual-listed Light & Wonder agreed to the compensation as part of a settlement of pending legal action by Aristocrat over claims that its intellectual property had been misappropriated and infringed, the companies said Monday in a joint statement.

Light & Wonder said that a former employee had used Aristocrat math without its knowledge.

"Upon discovery, we took immediate action and have since implemented strengthened processes aimed at preventing similar issues in the future," Light & Wonder Chief Executive Matt Wilson said.

In 2024, Light & Wonder initially said it would vigorously defend itself against Aristocrat's claims of copyright infringement.

However, it pulled its Dragon Train game from circulation following a Nevada court injunction and conducted an internal review, which found that an employee had used Aristocrat IP.

As part of the settlement, Light & Wonder will permanently cease global commercialization of its Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon games, and attempt to remove any still in use. It will destroy any documents related to Aristocrat IP.

The parties also agreed to what they said were confidential procedures for identifying and resolving any issues concerning potential use of Aristocrat math in other Light & Wonder games.

Last year, Light & Wonder said that a third-party audit had not uncovered use of Aristocrat math in any other of its games released since mid 2021, which was when the employee joined it.

"Aristocrat welcomes fair competition but will always robustly defend and enforce its intellectual property rights. As an ideas and innovation company our intellectual property is vital to our ongoing success," Aristocrat Chief Executive Trevor Coker said.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 11, 2026 17:32 ET (22:32 GMT)